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RIP field contents
The RIP packets contain few fields, but they may be repeated to meet the needs of a network. The following explains these fields. OPERATION: This is the first field in the packet and indicates whether the packet is a response or a request. Following this field the maximum number of information sets is 50. These information sets include three components: network number, number of hops, and number of ticks. NETWORK NUMBER: This uniquely identifies a network segment. NUMBER OF HOPS: This refers to the number of routers a packet must pass to reach a given network number. NUMBER OF TICKS: This is an estimated reference to the amount of time it takes for a packet to reach a given network number. When multiple routes are possible to a given network, this information is important. For example, two routes may exist between target and destination networks, but the amount of time between the two routes varies greatly.
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